FacingUp.org Helps Citizens Affect Government Spending

FacingUp.org is a site that promises citizens an opportunity to weigh in on how taxpayer dollars are spent, and give them a way to contact their representatives in government to make sure their voices are heard.

In less than a year, Americans will go to the polls to elect a new President and several new members of Congress. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, everyone can agree that the government should spend taxpayer dollars responsibly on priorities they share with the people. FacingUp.org offers citizens an opportunity to weigh in on how taxpayer dollars are spent, giving them a way to contact their representatives in government to make sure their voices are heard.

The site is sponsored by a group of Washington DC think tanks and policy groups that generally share libertarian or conservative agendas, but claims to be a non-partisan project. I'm somewhat familiar with DC policy institutes and think-tanks, and be warned: many "non-partisan" groups are founded by organizations that are very partisan. Even so, FacingUp.org can be useful to people of all political leanings.

The site offers a number of position papers and connections to other groups, but its real strength is in the tools that it offers for individuals to discuss, collaborate, and share ways to collectively approach government agencies and officials to manage the budget responsibly. The service runs a blog that advises voters on issues around fiscal responsibility, and allows citizens to interact in discussion forums where members can debate financial priorities and collaborate on methods to get through to their elected officials.

When members decide to reach out to their elected officials about certain fiscal priorities or policies like weighing in on the Alternative Minimum Tax or the growing federal budget and trade deficits, FacingUp provides a number of ways for members to make their voices heard. The service helps citizens find their representatives, publicize the FacingUp project on social networking and bookmarking sites, and more.

In the end however, for a non-partisan project, I was surprised at how many partisan organizations were linked to and sponsored the project. I found a great deal of information how important fiscal responsibility is, but only around the fiscal priorities of the organizations that sponsor the project. FacingUp.org is an excellent idea, and could truly be non-partisan if its sponsor list didn't read like an honor roll of partisan politics.

Regardless, the national budget and fiscal responsibility are hot topics for the upcoming election season, and FacingUp is doing something that many candidates have refused to do: address domestic economic issues.